Let me tell you the story of two issues I've had, both which I've recounted here. First, with ASPWebServer.com and the issues with .NET hosting, and second the issues I've had installing NewsGator.
As I mentioned previously, I signed up for ASP.NET hosting at ASPWebServer.com. Everything was great for a few weeks, and then all of a sudden there were permissions issues and ASP.NET hosting was broken.
Their customer service left a lot to be desired. It took some effort to get my problems acknowledged, and even more effort to have them (try to) solve them. Now simple ASPX pages work, but those with a code-behind assembly or consuming/serving WebServices still do not.
(Maybe all those anti-code-behind people actually work for ASPWebServer.com).
Somehow I can't imagine that it's really that difficult to get virtual domain hosting and ASP.NET working without compromising security (the catch-all "excuse" they are using). Many other companies seem to be doing it just fine.
[Aside: In fact, based on Alex's recommendation, I am actually considering the switch to CrystalTech. It's a little more expensive, but still reasonable for what I'm looking to do (host multiple low-traffic domains). And hopefully they don't have the same issues! ]
Last week, they told me that it would work if I had a domain less than eight characters long.
The end result? ASP.NET hosting still doesn't work, a lot of frustration on my part, and the option for a refund. These experiences have just left a bad taste in my mouth, and that refund is looking like a good way out at this point.
I also recounted my issues trying to get NewsGator, a freeware news aggregator that integrates with Outlook. I was having a number of issues.
Realistically, I can't imagine that this is a difficult thing to achieve. Many companies like CrystalTech, OrcsWeb, Brinkster, and so on already have virtual domains with ASP.NET support, so I can't imagine that things would be that dramatically different or that these other hosts are willing to compromise security (the reason they said that these issues are present in the first place).
When I told them that I was still having issues, the response was that it was my fault, since I didn't configure things correctly. Now they're admitting that they still don't have a viable solution, and finally (after five months of dealing with this), the resolution I was offered was a potential refund.
And it's a shame, because when they had it working, the service was great and I would recommend it to others.